this morning on "early today," rebels reach a standoff with government forces in libya as the u.s. and its allies weigh a military response. marina mystery, a grim scene in southern california as a million dead fish float ashore. and spiedy sense? a vintage comic book featuring spider-man's debut sells for a a vintage comic book featuring spider-man's debut sells for a mind-blow thing sum. captions paid for by nbc-universal television hello and good morning.

i'm lynn berry. today we begin with losing momentum. it now appears the rebellion against libya's moammar gadhafi has stalled, halted in its tracks by the libyan army. the drive by opposition fighters toga definitefy's strong hold of tripoli has been met with a heavy barrage of rockets in the east and zawiya proregime forces threaten to capture the royal city. if it's retain, it would be a significant victory for gadhafi. meanwhile, in an interview broadcast on state-run tv, gadhafi blamed foreigners for the unrest. he says they brainwashed libyan youngsters with weapons, drugs and money to turn against their country. here at home, the obama administration is carefully considering its next move in response to the shift of momentum in libya as the president collaborates with the key ally on finding the best possible solution to the movement in libya.

nbc's tracie potts from washington has more on that. good morning. >> reporter: lynn, good morning. good morning, everyone. the u.s. is seriously considering this idea of a no-fly zone over libya. later today, top security advisers will meet at the white house without president obama. the cia will be there, national security adviser, secretary of state hillary clinton, all to talk about the next step. military options at the top of that list, whether or not the u.s. should participate in a no-fly zone. is it realistic? how can they do it? when can they do it? and with whom? secretary of state hillary clinton has said this cannot be done without the support of the united nations and the international community, be that nato, the arab league, africa or the european union. john mccain has yes said to a no-fly zone, although others here on capitol hill are concerned that it would constitute an act on of war. they're looking at surveillance, perhaps an arms embargo, looking

at getting humanitarian supplies into libya. at this point, president obama has consulted with britain's prime minister, david cameron, who has they have got to get gadhafi out of office there in libya. lynn. >> tracie potts in washington, thank you. meanwhile, there has been another flare up of violence in a country that seemed to be making progress. egypt. officials say at least six people have been killed in clashes between christians and muslims. yesterday, the christians had been protesting the recent burning of a church. they also have been demanding that more be done to increase the status of christians in egypt. elsewhere, yemen called for the country's president to resign. soldiers fired rubber bullets and tear gas at students at a university. at least 98 people were hurt. there was a prison riot that left one person dead. inspired by the uprising in egypt and tunisia, protests in yemen will be ongoing for several weeks now. e-mails released from

wisconsin governor scott walker's office show he may be willing to compromise on his proposal to strip workers of collective bargaining rights. despite taking a hard i'm line in public, documents suggest walker discussed making some concessions to democrats who are hiding out in illinois. among them are allowing unions to bargain over salaries with no limits and permitting collective bargaining to stay in place on mandatory overtime and performance bonuses. still, some democrats blocking a vote on the original measure say the offer doesn't go far enough. now here's a look at other stories making news early today in america. in california, approximately 1 million fish turned up dead in the king harbor marina, creating a smorgasbord of sardines for pelicans and sea gulls as well as a mysterious mess for officials. the cause of death is unknown, but all indications point to suffocation due to lack of oxygen in the water. that's pretty gross. also in california, high winds may have caused a huge

eucalyptus tree to blow over on to a home. wind gusts blew through los angeles at the time the tree came down. it took out part of the home and nearly crushed one man inside. the 59-year-old was hospitalized with minor injuries. in washington, a dog trainer has been branded a hero for saving one of his canine students after she stopped breathing. the trainer jumped into action when the dog went into a seizure. he performed cpr. shortly after, the dog began to breathe on its own. finally, in loose, a rowdy bunch of resolvers wrapped up mardi gras on a high note. they turned new orleans into party central making this year's event, according to organizers, the biggest turnout since hurricane katrina. an official tally has yet to be determined. now for a look at your national and regional weather, here's meteorologist ginger zee from nbc 5 in chicago. good morning, ginger. and i guess yesterday in new orleans they were supposed to

see some rain. did that ever come to be? >> yes. and the storm is still there, actually. i'm going to get out of the way and show you. we have a tornadoh÷%vñoç watch n effect for new orleans. most of the party is through and it will be moving to the north and east. storms yesterday included three tornados along the texas and oklahoma border there in the northeastern portions of texas. plenty of hail and wind damage, as well. radar and satellite put together now shows the rain pushing through new orleans and pushing eastward. new york, you'll see some by tonight. severe weather potential along the gulf, the southern gulf states, at least, and then we'll look for the storm advisories and warnings to stretch into the upper peninsula of michigan. then we have flooding, flash flood warning in mississippi down through parts of new orleans, as well. and our wednesday forecast, then, rainey and stormy from atlanta down to new orleans. we'll move out of the way, look for chicago to have that cold rain. d.c., 49. 41 new york. that is a look at your regional forecast. let's check closer to home.

detroit, michigan, a nice cold rain for you, 41. st. louis, you'll be on the back end of that storm. lingering clouds early. 48 is the high. that's a look at your stormy wednesday forecast. >> ginger, thanks. coming up, oil settles, yet another new way to rent your movies. and the invention that could shield from you everything charlie sheen. your early morning business headlines are straight ahead. plus, does she own the word gaga? she thinks so. coming up, a major suspension for ohio state football and a miami heat have another reason to cry. you're watching "early today."

good morning, and welcome back to "early today." i'm lynn berry. here are some of your top headlines this morning. the senate is expected to vote this afternoon on a pair of

competing budget plans to fund the government for the rest of this fiscal year. neither measure is expected to pass, but the vote will set the stage for talks on averting a government shutdown next friday. a pennsylvania state trooper says a fire at a rural farmhouse has killed seven children while their mother was in a barn milking cows and their father was taking a nap in a delivery truck. the tragic fire erupted tuesday in blain, about 20 miles north of harrisburg. one child managed to escape unharmed. the philadelphia archdioceses says it has suspended 21 catholic priests over allegations they sexually abused minors. this comes after criticisms last month for allowing 37 priests to continue serving despite allegations of questionable behavior. online auctioneers say an anonymous buyer has she would out nearly $1 million to buy a

comic featuring spider-man's debut. when it was first published in 1962, the comic sold for just 12 cents. and we all noel fants never forget, but researchers in thailand are now ranking pachyderms among the world's most cognitive an males. during a recent group of tests, elephants shocked scientists. two of them outwitted humans by finding solutions to problems that researchers hadn't even considered. i don't know if that's such good news for you. >> and now here's an early look at how wall street will kick off the day. the dow opens at 12,214 after climbing 124 points yesterday. the s&p added 11 points. the nasdaq rose 20. taking a look at overseas trading this morning, in tokyo, the nikkei gained 64 points while in hong kong the hang seng was up 98. falling oil and financial

stocks led a rally tuesday that gave wall street hope the market may be able to bounce back from recent losses. bank of america drove markets higher after its ceo told investors it plans to return more money to shareholders through stock buybacks and dividends sending shares up nearly 5%. meanwhile, west texas crude settled down just above $105 a barrel, but investors are bracing for more volatility as libyan unrest threatens to spread to more strategic oil producers, iran and saudi arabia. shares of brown foreman shot up 5% after the liquor company said profits rose 5%. boeing has locked in odds 10 billion in deals with air china and hong kong airlines. more sales could be on the horizon. china expects to order more than 2,000 aircraft over the next five years.

sprint nextel and t-mobile pair and deutsche telecom have revived merger talks hoping to keep up with wireless rival verizon and at&t. warner brothers has teamed up with facebook to test out streaming movie sales on the social network. "the dark night" is the first flick to be offered up. $3 worth of facebook currency buys a two-day rental. the threat of a new rival in the online rental market sent shares of netflix nearly 7% lower. finally, had enough of warner brothers' ex employee charlie sheen popping up online? there's an app for that. the creator claims his charlie sheen browser blocker will hide most sheen related texts and images from your browsing experience. now, that is winning. coming up, a milestone for kobe. a broadcaster wants back on the field and the strangest soccer red card you'll ever see. plus, lebron tries his best to stop the heat from wilting. your early morning sports headlines are straight ahead.

severe weather potential continues along the gulf and now flooding concerns spread northeastward all the way to new jersey. your forecast is coming up. you're watching "early today." lysol believes no toilet is complete

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good morning. if you're just waking up, this is "early today." in sports, miami is going through a cold snap. no, we're not talking weather.

we're talking nba basketball. here's nbc's fred roggin with an early look at all your sports headlines. good morning. it's been called cry gate and the team has been dubbed the miami weep. after losing their fifth straight, the heat have reason to shed some tears. taking on the blazers, dwyane wade got it all done by himself in the fourth. he rejected brandon royde and took it the other way with to the game dunk. the problem with miami is they can't close out games. moments later, marcus aldridge drained the turn around. blazers pulled away and the heat lost once again, 105-96. tough week for basketball legend moses malone. kevin love tied his consecutive double-double record on monday and yesterday kobe bryant passed him for sixth place on the all-time scoring list. lakers won their eighth straight, 101-87. college football, ohio state head coach jim tressel has been suspended two games and fined $250,000 for violating ncaa rules. you may remember back in

december, five of his players were suspended for selling memorabilia. it turns out tressel knew about this months before and the ncaa was not notified then. how about this, former new york giant running back tiki barber wants to return to the nfl. the 35-year-old has not played in five years but was one of the best in the league when he retired. after as for the giants, they have no interest in re-signing their former all-time rusher. from football to football, a man wearing nothing by a bright green thong ran out on a soccer match in london. after parading around on the field, he was taken down with a vicious neck tackle. the streaker was arrested and the player was given a red card and booted from the game. apparently the rules say a player is automatically ejected for attacking anyone on the field, and i guess that includes a streaker. never has playing the role of peacemaker been so costly. that's your early look at sports on "early today." i'm fred roggin.

clauses, contracts and lawsuits, your early morning entertainment headlines are straight ahead. 1ewr9hó

the storm that dropped tornados yesterday in parts of

texas is now moving northeastward. atlanta will be in its path, 61 and stormy. not yet in d.c., but tomorrow you'll have rain showers. 49 in d.c. 41 for new york. boston cooler at 36. a peek ahead to tomorrow, plenty in the wake of the storm. chicago will be drying out by tomorrow. close to 40. atlanta 55 and dry on thursday. but the wet stuff all goes to the northeast. if you're watching us us in pittsburgh, pennsylvania, see the work of local glass artists showcasing major events in the history at the hodge gallery. that's your "early today" event of the day, lynn. >> thanks, ginger. now here's a look at this morning's headlines in entertainment. we can see just how dramatically show biz has become entapingeled with the law these days. tmz reports charlie sheen has a so-called michael j. fox clause in his "two and a half men" contract which provides sheen is to be paid as long as the show

runs even if he leaves. meanwhile, sources say the show's producer, chuck lorre has been in touch with reps for rob lowe about replacing sheen. lindsay low has is prepared to sue the jewelry store she supposedly stole a necklace from because the store released surveillance video of her. lohan is planning to stop father's michael from showing up at her hearing tomorrow. finally, lady gaga is suing the london ice cream shop that sold ice cream made for breast milk for trademark infringement because they called it baby gaga. i'm surprised nobody sued just because it's breast milk ice cream. there are so many things wrong with that. >> there are. and it goes way beyond that. that's what she should be suing for. >> and they did take it off the

shelves, but the saga continues. never ending. and this comes to us from kgw news channel 8 in portland, oregon, where dialing 911 seemed to be the best option for a burglar convinced that he broke into the wrong house. after his successful intrusion, the suspect decided to take a shower before leaving. before he could make a getaway, the owner returned home. he was frightened by her german she would shepherds and afraid she might own guns. so the burglar locked himself in the bathroom and called police for help, gladly exchanging his rescue for his arrest. and i would imagine he's not the brightest guy if he's taking a shower at the house that he broke into. >> why the shower? was he feeling dirty because he had just committed a crime? >> exactly. a little cleansing of his spirit there. i'm lynn berry, and this is "early today," just your first stop of the day today on your nbc station.

>> live, local, late-breaking, this is wbal-tv 11 news today. >> good morning. we're off to a quiet start on this wednesday. that will be changing. we have some heavy rain on the way. it will stay dry until just after lunch time. we will see some rain commission after 1:00 p.m. or 2:00 p.m. high temperature around 45. 55 tomorrow. heavy rain is possible.

then it will turn colder. rain or snow showers possible on friday. there could be some flooding problems. we will give you an update in just a few minutes. >> thank you. 36 degrees on tv hill. here's a look ahead to 11 news today. >> in reaction to a ruling, a congressman from maryland it introduces new legislation. details are next. >> the spending showdown continues in the senate. what it could mean for the threat of a government shutdown. >> northern parkway, we do have an accident blocking some lanes. an accident blocking some lanes. [ male announcer ] achievement: embraces mondays.

♪ achievement: loves working capital. ♪ achievement: puts receivables to work. ♪ achievement: expects a lot of itself. cfo: cash flow options, helping business achievers better manage their cash flow. pnc. for the achiever in us all. [captioning made possible by constellation energy group] captioned by the national captioning institute --www.ncicap.org-- >> live, local, late-breaking, this is wbal-tv 11 news today. >> good morning. i am mindy basara. >> and i